You might be wondering how come I switched my post article for this month from geology to health and sanitation. Well don't forget! Everything in life is interconnected - Wars, cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, disease outbreaks, famine, radio-logical incidents and chemical spills – all are emergencies that, invariably impact on public health and sanitation. Internal emergencies in health facilities – such as fires and loss of power or water – can have adverse impacts on health and hygiene of the people in general. If you have to compare deaths due to natural disasters to loss of life due to poor health, then poor health will overtake the figures of natural disaster death toll [i].
Over 1.5 million children under five die each year as a result of diarrhea [ii] and it is the second most common cause of child deaths alone worldwide [iii] compared to average 0.06 million deaths per year from natural disasters. Just washing your hands with soap can cut the figure to almost 30%. Now isn't that amazing! Small interventions and little behavioural change can have such big impacts.
Tippy Tap film has been shortlisted for the 2012 Golden Poo Award. This is an award that works to promote water, sanitation and hygiene through different mediums. This year, the contest is for film shorts and the video has made it to the final round. The winning film receives promotion for Global Handwashing Day and World Toilet Day as well as getting access to groups like DFID and WaterAid.
I hope you will do all your bit to help TippyTap.org raise awareness on water, sanitation and hygiene by just watching the video and also invite others to watch the same, that can SAVE LIVES and SAVE WATER and I am sure you all will like it. Lets support the initiatives of WMG and Grampari in reaching out to more kids.
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| Kids enjoying washing hands with the Tippy Tap (Photo Credit: Grampari) |
Click on the caption below to visit the website and have access to tones of information on how to make a Tippy Tap and reach out to more people with it. Cheers!!!
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| (Photo credit: TippyTap.org) |
[i] Emergencies: Global and Local Impacts (2009) World Health Organization, 2009, retrieved on September 3, 2012 from <http://www.who.int/world-health-day/2009/emergencies_impact/en/index.html>
[ii] Prüss-Üstün A, Bos R, Gore F, Bartram J.(2008): Safer water, better health: costs, benefits and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health. World Health Organization, Geneva.
[iii] UNICEF (2008). The State of the world’s children.
